Head-wearable hearing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017195791-A1
Application number	US-201615384009-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 19, 2016
Priority date	Dec 30, 2015
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosures relates to a head-wearable hearing device comprising an ambient microphone arrangement configured to receive and convert environmental sound into a microphone input signal and an ear canal microphone configured to receive and convert ear canal sound pressure into an electronic ear canal signal. The head-wearable hearing device further comprises a mixer combining a compensated ear canal signal and the microphone input signal to produce a hybrid microphone signal. The hybrid microphone signal may be transmitted to a far end recipient through a wireless or wired data communication link.

First claim

1 . A head-wearable hearing device comprising:
a microphone configured to convert environmental sound into a microphone input signal; a signal processor configured to process the microphone input signal in accordance with a predetermined or adaptive processing scheme for generating an processed output signal; a loudspeaker or a receiver configured to convert the processed output signal into a corresponding acoustic output signal for producing ear canal sound pressure in a user's ear canal; an ear canal microphone configured to convert the ear canal sound pressure into an electronic ear canal signal; a compensation filter connected between the signal processor and a first input of a compensation summer, wherein the compensation summer is configured to produce a compensated ear canal signal for suppression of environmental sound pressure components based on the processed output signal and the electronic ear canal signal; a mixer configured to combine the compensated ear canal signal and the microphone input signal to produce a hybrid microphone signal; and a wireless or wired data communication interface configured to transmit the hybrid microphone signal to a recipient through a wireless or wired data communication link.

2 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 1 , further comprising a lowpass filter between the compensation summer and the mixer, the lowpass filter configured for lowpass filtering the compensated electronic ear canal signal before application to a first input of the mixer.

3 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 1 , further comprising a highpass filter between the microphone and the mixer, the highpass filter configured for highpass filtering the microphone input signal before application to a second input of the mixer.

4 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a lowpass filter between the compensation summer and the mixer, the lowpass filter configured for lowpass filtering the compensated electronic ear canal signal before application to a first input of the mixer; and a highpass filter between the microphone and the mixer, the highpass filter configured for highpass filtering the microphone input signal before application to a second input of the mixer; wherein one or each of the lowpass filter and the highpass filter comprises a filter bank comprising a plurality of adjacent bandpass filters arranged across at least a portion of an audio frequency range.

5 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 4 , wherein the lowpass filter is configured to select respective outputs of a first subset of the plurality of adjacent bandpass filters for application to the first input of the mixer; and/or
wherein the highpass filter is configured to select respective outputs of a second subset of the plurality of adjacent bandpass filters for application to the second input of the mixer.

6 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a lowpass filter between the compensation summer and the mixer, the lowpass filter configured for lowpass filtering the compensated electronic ear canal signal before application to a first input of the mixer; and a highpass filter between the microphone and the mixer, the highpass filter configured for highpass filtering the microphone input signal before application to a second input of the mixer; wherein the lowpass filter has a cut-off frequency anywhere between 500 Hz and 2 kHz; and/or wherein the highpass filter has a cut-off frequency anywhere between 500 Hz and 2 kHz.

7 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 6 , wherein:
the cut-off frequency of the lowpass filter corresponds with the cut-off frequency of the highpass filter; and/or a summed magnitude of respective output signals of the lowpass filter and the highpass filter corresponds with an unity at least between 100 Hz and 5 kHz.

8 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 1 , wherein the head-wearable hearing device is a hearing instrument or a hearing aid.

9 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 1 , wherein the head-wearable hearing device is a BTE, RIE, ITE, ITC or CIC device.

10 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 1 , wherein the compensation filter is configured to model a transfer function between the loudspeaker or the receiver and the ear canal microphone.

11 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 1 , wherein the compensation filter comprises an adaptive filter.

12 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 11 , wherein the adaptive filter comprises a digital FIR filter or a digital IIR filter.

13 . The head-wearable hearing device according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to:
estimate a signal feature of the microphone input signal, and control respective contributions of the compensated ear canal signal and the microphone input signal to the hybrid microphone signal based on the estimated signal feature of the microphone input signal or based on a signal derived from the signal feature of the microphone input signal.

14 . A multi-user call centre communication system comprising:
a plurality of head-wearable hearing devices for a plurality of call centre service individuals, respectively; wherein at least one of the plurality of head-wearable hearing devices is the head-wearable hearing device of claim 1 .

15 . A method of providing a hybrid microphone signal to a recipient by a head-wearable hearing device, the method comprising:
converting environmental sound into a microphone input signal; processing the microphone input signal in accordance with a predetermined or adaptive processing scheme for generating an processed output signal; converting the processed output signal into a corresponding acoustic output signal by a loudspeaker or a receiver to produce ear canal sound pressure in a user's ear canal; filtering the processed output signal by a compensation filter to produce a filtered processed output signal; converting the ear canal sound pressure into an electronic ear canal signal by an ear canal microphone; producing a compensated ear canal signal based on the filtered processed output signal and the electronic ear canal signal; combining the compensated ear canal signal and the microphone input signal to produce a hybrid microphone signal; and transmitting the hybrid microphone signal to a recipient through a wireless or wired data communication link.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
estimating a signal feature of the microphone input signal, and controlling respective contributions of the compensated ear canal signal and the microphone input signal to the hybrid microphone signal based on the estimated signal feature of the microphone input signal or based on a signal derived from the microphone input signal.

17 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
lowpass filtering the compensated ear canal signal before combining the compensated ear canal signal with the microphone input signal; and/or highpass filtering the microphone input signal before combining the microphone input signal with the compensated ear canal signal.

Assignees

• Gn Resound As

Inventors

• Pedersen Soren Christian Voigt

Classifications

• H04R2460/01

  Hearing devices using active noise cancellation · CPC title

• H04R25/43

  Electronic input selection or mixing based on input signal analysis, e.g. mixing or selection between microphone and telecoil or between microphones with different directivity characteristics (H04R25/407 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04R25/604

  of acoustic or vibrational transducers · CPC title

• H04R25/55

  using an external connection, either wireless or wired · CPC title

• H04R1/1016 Primary

  Earpieces of the intra-aural type · CPC title